Alma 34:1-17

34:1-14 - Alma is finished speaking to the people and so Amulek stands up and takes his turn, and it's really interesting because the way that Amulek speaks is so different from Alma and yet they complement each other and it's a throw back to their time in Ammonihah, which I'm sure isn't lost on them. Unlike Alma, Amulek takes a more "in your face" approach with the people saying "I think that it is impossible that ye should be ignorant of the things which have been spoken concerning the coming of Christ, who is taught by us to be the Son of God; yea, I know that these things were taught unto you bountifully before your dissension from us." Amulek calls them on their "we didn't know" act, telling them that he finds their ignorance hard to believe. Recapping what Alma had talked about he put it plainly, and I didn't put it all together until Amulek says this but he tells them "we have beheld that the great question which is in your minds is whether the word be in the Son of God, or whether there shall be no Christ." Looking back, yes, this would be a major question because the Zoramites vigorously opposed the idea of a Christ, so it would make sense that there was some confusion there. Amulek testifies "that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world." The Atonement is such an amazing and mind boggling concept, I don't understand very much of it, but I'm learning more and more as time goes on. The IM quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie as teaching, "When the prophets speak of an infinite atonement, they mean just that. Its effects cover all men, the earth itself and all forms of life thereon, and reach out into the endless expanses of eternity." I never really understood the "earth itself and all forms of life thereon," before but I guess we have to remember that the atonement is not just about sin, it's about death, spiritual and physical, so it would make sense that the atonement was for animals and plants and all that too, because in this fallen state, everything dies and everything will be resurrected by this logic, which makes sense, I hope I get all my dogs back, I missed them. The IM further goes on to quote Elder Russell M. Nelson as teaching, "His Atonement is infinite- without an end. It was also infinite in that all humankind would be saved from never-ending death. It was infinite in terms of His immense suffering. It was infinite in time, putting an end to the preceding prototype of animal sacrifice. It was infinite in scope- it was to be done once for all. And the mercy of the Atonement extends not only to an infinite number of people, but also to an infinite number of worlds created by Him. It was infinite beyond any human scale of measurement or mortal comprehension. Jesus was the only one who could offer such an infinite atonement, since He was born of a mortal mother and an immortal Father. Because of that unique birthright, Jesus was an infinite Being." There are a couple of points here that I found interesting, the first being that Jesus' suffering was immense. I guess this is puzzling to me because I get the concept of why the debt needed to be paid, but I don't understand in what currency it was paid. I can't imagine what the universal law of justice could demand as payment, because surely he paid in the manner that we would be required to pay, but what is it, how did it cause the horrific suffering? I mean was it something like 7 years of indentured servitude? 40 lashes? Pulling out of finger nails? No, it would have probably have been something spiritual in nature, the physical suffering was a result of the spiritual suffering right? How can someone pay something in spirit? I guess I'm just going to have to learn that in time. Amulek brings up a few good points when it comes to the atonement and the sacrifice, he says "that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice. This is all a very complicated subject for me, and I think I'm just going to stick with the IM here, because I'm getting lost. This great and last sacrifice by the Savior ended animal sacrifice and fulfilled the law of Moses. The IM teaches, "Amulek declared that the whole meaning of the law of Moses was to point the people to the eventual 'great and last sacrifice' of Jesus Christ in Gethsemane and Golgotha. The animal sacrifices, the feasts and festivals, and other daily rituals were full of numerous types and shadows, pointing the children of Israel to Christ. The sacrament similarly reminds us today of the atoning mission of Jesus Christ. Likewise, anciently Passover was a yearly reminder that the Lord brought Israel out of physical bondage in Egypt. Today Easter is a yearly reminder that through the Atonement and Resurrection of the Lord we can be redeemed out of spiritual bondage." In the past when we've heard the people talk about salvation coming through the law of Moses, and I never really understood it, but with the connection being made here to the sacrament, it made more sense. Believing that salvation comes from keeping the law o Moses would be like us believing that salvation comes through taking the sacrament. That would take a lot of accountability and spiritual responsibility and growth away from us as people, as well as having no concept of where salvation actually comes from. But that begs the question, why does it matter if we know where salvation comes? Why isn't it just good enough to know what to do? I'm going to have to think about that.

34:15-17 - On the subject "Mercy can satisfy the Demands of Justice," the IM has a great chart that I'm going to copy and paste:

I thought that this was quite thorough and there was one point that hit me, I don't know why but this one point seemed to put a lot more answers into place for me and that is, "In the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross, He suffered and paid the price for the penalty as though He was guilty of every sin ever committed." Whatever that payment was that he made, however the debt was satisfied, he paid it, every single piece, I thought about all the sins that I personally have committed and all those that I know that other people have committed and then I put that together with Jesus paying the price, whatever form of currency that justice requires, paying it as if he had personally committed those sins. But if he had personally committed those sins, he wouldn't have been eligible to pay the price for them for someone else, so the only reason that he was able to pay the price for us was because he was sinless, so he was able to fulfill #2 here because he first fulfilled #1. Very interesting. But then I guess that begs the question, why? Why would he do that? As the sinless man he could have gone home to his father and lived happily ever after without ever suffering and without having all the drama that is associated with people. There's an April 2000 general conference address by Elder Russell M. Nelson entitled "The Creation," that gives a different yet profound insight as to how it all went down. He says, "While visiting the British Museum in London one day, I read a most unusual book. It is not scripture. It is an English translation of an ancient Egyptian manuscript. From it, I quote a dialogue between the Father and the Son. Referring to His Father, Jehovah- the premortal Lord- says: 'He took the clay from the hand of the angel, and made Adam according to Our image and likeness, and He left him lying for forty days and forty nights without putting breath into him. And He heaved sighs over him daily, saying, 'If I put breath into this (man), he must suffer many pains.' And I said unto My Father, 'Put breath into him; I will be an advocate for him.' And my Father said unto M, 'If I put breath into him, My Beloved Son, Thou wilt be obliged to go down into the world, and to suffer many pains for him before Thou shalt have redeemed him, and made him to come back to his primal state.' And I said unto My Father, 'Put breath into him; I will be his advocate, and I will go down into the world, and will fulfill Thy command.' Although this text is not scripture, it reaffirms scriptures that teach of the deep and compassionate love of the Father for the Son, and of the Son for us- attesting that Jesus volunteered willingly to be our Savior and Redeemer." I thought that that was beautiful, I always imagined that it was possible that Jesus was agreed to the Atonement before he knew how awful it was going to be, but Elder Nelson teaches that that clearly isn't the case, he wasn't duped or tricked, he might not have know experientially how awful it was going to be but he went into it knowing that it was going to be painful, and he agreed to do it because he loved us. Surely he knew us each spiritually, he knew me as a spirit when he volunteered to be my Savior, he did it for me, he did it for each of us. And finally we have the phrase used by Amulek here "Faith unto Repentance." The IM quotes Elder Robert E. Wells as teaching how faith unto repentance ties in to the atonement saying, "Just how much faith do I need for the atonement of Christ to work for me? In other words, how much faith do I need to receive salvation? In the book of Alma... we find the answer. The prophet Amulek taught thi simple but great principle: 'The Son of God... Bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.' Please note those three words: Faith unto repentance. That is the clue. Four times in three verses he uses that expression... So the combination of faith in Christ plus faith unto repentance is vitally important. That concept is one of the greatest insights we have into the importance of simple, clear faith- faith sufficient to repent. Apparently faith great enough to move mountains is not required; faith enough to speak in tongues or to heal the sick is not needed; all that we need is just enough faith to recognize that we have sinned and to repent of our sins, to feel remorse for them, and to desire to sin not more but to please Christ the Lord. Then the greatest miracle of all, the Atonement, whereby Christ rescues us from our deserved punishment, is in effect in our behalf." I think that because the Atonement is so widely not understood that we assume that it's this big elaborate plan and we have to fit into, we've been told that we won't fully understand it in this life, but here we are told that it doesn't take anything magical or spectacular on our part to make the atonement applicable in our daily lives. Repentance is something that solely depends on us, we are the only ones who decide to repent and who are able to embrace the enabling power the the atonement brings us. Speaking with tongues, healing the sick, or moving mountains are not dependent on us, those are miracles that the Lord may or may not permit depending on what his will is at the time, it doesn't matter how much faith we have, usually, in most people's situations. The only faith that is required of us is for us to believe in Jesus enough to keep his commandments and change our ways and our hearts, repent, and turn to Him, that's all we have to do, and it might not be easy but it is simple and He's with us every step of the way.